Hippo

“Hippo” designates a highly conserved pathway within the animal kingdom involved in many tissue-related features such as regulation of organ size, stem cells function, tissue regeneration and tumour development. Many studies on Drosophila melanogaster have highlighted the cascade of signals that lead to the expression of genes related to proliferation and inhibition of apoptosis. Mutations observed on specific actors have indeed been identified in various cancers.

This pathway is regulated by many ways (e.g. extracellular signals, cytoskeleton, metabolism), indicating a largely tissue-dependent regulation. The core proteins and kinases may indeed be activated or inactivated by partners coming from many sources such as CRB Complex, cytoskeleton, adherens junctions…